TWO away goals, a foot in the group stage of the Champions League, and a step closer to a pounds-10m bounty. Job done. The pragmatic Alex McLeish knows all about the virtues of simply getting there, by hook or by crook, and his side now have a chance to finish the job at Ibrox in two weeks.

First leg Champions League qualifiers are no time to get bogged down in the aesthetics of any victory, so let's not bother. But it would be folly not to acknowledge the defensive frailties which again bedevilled Rangers last night and left McLeish cursing the concession of a cheap goal immediately after his side had taken a two-goal lead.

Indeed, if it had not been for the Ibrox manager's willingness to commit players to attack, particularly in the second half, then they may not have had an advantage to take home to Glasgow such was their defensive vulnerability.

There has been a refreshing honesty about McLeish's acknowledgement of their defensive problems in the aftermath of their unconvincing 1-0 victory over Inverness Caledonian Thistle at the weekend.

A re-shuffle at the back last night saw a debut for Julien Rodriguez, their pounds-1m capture from Monaco, who partnered Andrews in the centre of a four-man defence. Jose-Karl Pierre-Fanfan moved to right back and Michael Ball slotted in at left back.

Individual errors, however, ensured more questions than answers. One sticks out. Is their progression into the Champions League group stage, and perhaps even further, compatible with Marvin Andrews' presence in the heart of their defence?

The European arena can be an unforgiving environment where hesitancy and uncertainty leads to ruthless exposure. Andrews came a cropper on several occasions last night.

The pre-match concerns looked to have some substance early on when the Cypriots stole the early initiative and momentarily exposed Andrews at the back. A couple of unconvincing clearances, however, were followed by a more alarming lapse in concentration.

In the 19th minute, the Trinidadian was slow to move out with the rest of his teammates and so played Nicolaus Frousos on-side, who fluffed a golden opportunity to open the scoring. Sixteen minutes later, he was exposed again, this time Frousos muscling in front of him before lobbing the ball overWaterreus only for it to hit the post and be palmed away to safety.

His last contribution of the half summed up the previous 45 minutes, a reckless lunge on Temuri Ketsbaia which earned him a booking. A half- time pep talk clearly had the desired effect on the former Livingston stopper but his hesitancy was contagious.

In the 73rd minute with Rangers having just scored their second, Rodriguez failed to deal with a routine diagonal ball, which bounced off his thigh and eventually ended up at the feet of Frousos, who curled it home. It was a crushing blow to Rangers, coming just one minute after Fernando Ricksen had given them a twogoal cushion.

Thankfully for Rangers, they had enough attacking threat to compensate for their defensive misdemeanours. McLeish set out his stall with both Prso and Novo up front and Thomas Buffel in a withdrawn role, and was rewarded with the creation of a couple of decent first half chances.

It was the little Spaniard who had the first chance of the game when he nearly opened the scoring with an acrobatic volley. Novo was the architect of their next opportunity, threading a fine ball into the path of Ian Murray, who missed from eight yards.

On nights such as these, an away victory requires a catalyst, and Rangers had two. Step up Prso and Ricksen.

The opening goal owed much to Prso's deftness, spinning away from his marker and picking out Ricksen with his cross. The Dutchman's acrobatic volley was well parried, but Novo netted the rebound.

By this stage, Ricksen was running beyond the back four with gusto and Prso icked him out in the area soon after. A slide-rule finish made it 2-0.

If only his defensive colleagues had been as clinical.